Monitoring types

Application monitoring - Monitor system and application metrics.

External monitoring - Monitor instances from public checker nodes, such as HTTP, Ping, Multi-step checks, etc. The OnSight vCollector can also perform the same checks as Panopta's public nodes, but in this case, for instances in your private network.

Network device monitoring (SNMP) - Collect SNMP metrics for network devices and other hardware that use the SNMP protocol.

Basic methods

Apply monitoring manually

This method allows you to apply monitoring to an existing server or instance. This method is best used if you only want to apply monitoring to a few existing instances. After selecting the services or applications that you want to be monitored, you can configure the metrics on the following screen based on your requirements.

You can also apply a template to any instance that you create manually. One of the steps is to choose a template to apply to the new instance. Any configuration on the template will be applied to the server upon the creation of the instance.

Apply monitoring during the installation of Panopta Agent

Installing the Panopta Agent on a server will automatically add the server to your Panopta account. You have the option to add network checks (HTTP/HTTPs/Ping, etc.) and Agent metrics (CPU, Memory, Disk) to your servers during the installation of the Panopta Agent.

To install the Panopta Agent to a server, select + Add then on the Add an item modal, select Advanced Instance.

Choose the OS and version of the server to generate a script that you can run manually on each of your servers. If you'd like to automatically add network checks for applications we detect that are exposed externally, select Add appropriate network service checks to instances.

This script will install the Panopta Agent, then load the servers into Panopta. See Install the Panopta Agent for more information on how to install the Panopta Agent and apply monitoring.

Apply templates manually (API or UI)

You can use this method If you have a large infrastructure and want to apply the same monitoring to a group of related servers or instances. You can apply a template manually from the Instance Details page by selecting Apply Template.

Select the template that you want to apply to the server then click Apply Template.

Any monitoring or metrics configuration on the template will be applied to the selected server. For a detailed procedure on how to apply server templates, see Apply server templates.

Create server templates

You can also build a template from scratch or clone an existing server into a reusable template. If you’re backing into using templates after your initial setup and already have monitoring in place, the templates will automatically match metrics which are of the same type to avoid any duplication. Panopta also allows you to create your own template. You can create templates by following the steps detailed in Server templates.

Templates can also be applied manually by utilizing Panopta's API. For more information, see API keys.

Advanced methods

Monitoring policy framework

In large-scale deployments, applying monitoring to servers manually can be time-consuming and may be prone to errors. Monitoring policies allow you to manage your monitoring configuration from a central location using a workflow-like interface. This method provides a level of automation that can both save time and avoid errors due to human intervention.

The Monitoring Policies Workflow is a series of transformations (policies) that are applied to your instances as they are added to Panopta. The policies can and usually include a condition - e.g. if Apache is on the instance - and an outcome - apply a template, add a tag, etc. The policy conditions can be either a collection of OR or AND predicate, forming a basic IF...THEN statement. The policies are executed sequentially and will override any settings that were previously set. Panopta also provides a few default policies that you can utilize or use as a basis for your own custom policies.

Apply default templates to a group

You can apply a default group template to a group of servers by selecting the group from the Instances drawer then clicking Edit on the Instance page. You can now edit the group to apply a default template. For example, if you want to apply monitoring to a group of Linux servers, you can choose the Linux server template and all configured monitoring and metrics will be applied to the group of servers. Any servers added to the group will automatically have this template applied to those servers as well.

Use the Panopta Agent manifest file

If you have a large infrastructure, using the Panopta Agent manifest file allows you to streamline the configuration of your servers in Panopta. You can use the manifest file to set configuration values and have the Panopta Agent add the server with its preconfigured values to Panopta. For more information on how to use the Panopta Agent manifest file, see Use the Panopta Agent manifest file.